PGA Championship: Xander Schauffele rebounds after mistake, co-leads

Xander Schauffele stood within the fifteenth fairway at Valhalla with a 9-iron in his hand, considerably confused by the path of the wind.

He and his caddy, Austin Kaiser, decided that the swirling breeze was hurting them. As such, Schauffele and Kaiser determined to hit a low draw into this back-left gap location.

The choice backfired.

Schauffele pulled it, and his ball landed in some nasty, thick fescue past the inexperienced beside the gallery.

A creek runs down the proper facet of this inexperienced, too, solely including to the issue. So not solely did Schauffele face a frightening lie for his third shot, however he additionally knew that if he overswung, catastrophe loomed.

And but, a disaster nonetheless offered itself.

Schauffele’s third shot went about 5 toes, settling in some lighter tough. However he couldn’t stand up and all the way down to salvage a bogey. As a substitute, he made a double, instantly coughing up the two-shot lead he held on the time.

“If there wasn’t a hazard over the inexperienced, I most likely would have swung so much tougher,” Schauffele defined.

Photograph by Christian Petersen/Getty Photos

“I knew it was going to return out useless. I simply couldn’t get myself to swing at it. If I might return, I might have hit it tougher, clearly.”

Whereas Schauffele struggled, his taking part in associate, Collin Morikawa, made a birdie on 15, thus making it a three-shot swing in a matter of minutes.

However as a substitute of floundering over his ultimate three holes, Schauffele bounced again with a vengeance. He made a par on 16, which settled his nerves. Then, he caught a pitching wedge from 137 yards on the seventeenth to a few toes, resulting in a birdie.

He and Morikawa then walked to the par-5 18th, the best gap on the course, tied atop the leaderboard at 14-under.

Each gamers then made routine birdies to shut out their third rounds.

They may start Sunday’s ultimate spherical of the PGA Championship at 15-under par, holding a one-shot benefit over Sahith Theegala.

“You need the lead,” Schauffele stated about his mindset going into Sunday.

Photograph by Darren Carroll/PGA of America by way of Getty Photos

“In opposition to these guys, you need as many photographs as you may probably take, regardless of how nerve-racking it may be.”

Valhalla has produced recorded low-scoring circumstances, which Schauffele has been in a position to make the most of. He opened the event with a record-setting 9-under 62, which Shane Lowry matched on Saturday.

“There’s blood within the water. Everybody form of laughed, after which Shane Lowry nearly shot 61 [Saturday],” Schauffele stated.

“I think about somebody in that threshold—now that it’s been achieved twice—goes to shoot one thing low and put up a quantity early. I think about that’s going to occur. Like I stated, simply staying in my lane is what’s going to make me play nicely.”

All Schauffele can do is deal with his recreation and attempt to mitigate errors. Bogeys harm, however gamers can get well from them. The identical can’t be stated for double-bogies.

And but, Schauffele, who will try and win his first main on Sunday, by some means bounced again after making his largest blunder of the week.

“All I can deal with are good golf photographs and hanging good putts,” Schauffele added.

“On the finish of the day, wherever the playing cards fall, they fall. [But winning] would imply so much, clearly.”

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By way of. Make sure to take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.